Can I keep a bull calf with the girls?

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NonTypicalCPA

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First post here. I picked up two registered belted galloway open heifers last fall for the start of my "herd". Surprisingly one of the heifers was with calf and had a nice little bull calf a month ago. It took some pushing and pulling on our part to get him out, but everyone is doing great. I'm going to try to raise breeding stock so I didn't cut him and will put him up for sale next spring. Now to my question: I'm going to AI the two girls in late July. After confirming pregnancy, can I keep the bull calf with the girls up until next spring when he sells?




And just for fun:
 
I would think you want to wean him after 6 months or so. Maybe you could wean with one of those nose flaps and keep them together.
 
NonTypicalCPA":38vo98zl said:
First post here. I picked up two registered belted galloway open heifers last fall for the start of my "herd". Surprisingly one of the heifers was with calf and had a nice little bull calf a month ago.
Okay calf was born April 25th
Now to my question: I'm going to AI the two girls in late July.
Okay breeding them on July 25th would make them due May 1st 2017
After confirming pregnancy,
assume 42 days after last A.I. service to be able to confirm them pregnant. 42 days from July 25 is Sept 5
can I keep the bull calf with the girls up until next spring when he sells?
Not without weaning him.
Calf will be 245 days old Dec 25th. You will probably want to wean the calf off of the cow before Christmas. For best results Mother and calf will need to be separated about 6 weeks for him to get over his desire to nurse. Sometimes putting a nose flap on him for 6-8 weeks will suffice and if you wean him that way then YES you can leave all 3 of them together.
Plastic nose weaners sell for about $4 ....for your convenience here is a link to a $13 metal one. :tiphat:
http://www.leedstone.com/calf-size-weaner.html
And :welcome: to the boards. SOB
 
turklilley":nxijzxiy said:
I would think you want to wean him after 6 months or so. Maybe you could wean with one of those nose flaps and keep them together.

That's what I was leaning towards trying. Thanks for the suggestion. I thought I had another year to plan for calves, but I got a nice early surprise. He presented with only one foot and a nose, so we had to work to get him out.
 

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